


Fright Night Double Feature

by Decepticonsensual



Series: The Festival of Mortilus [13]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 10:24:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13246239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decepticonsensual/pseuds/Decepticonsensual
Summary: Starscream and Wheeljack kick back and relax with a scary movie - only things don't exactly go to plan.  Fear, it turns out, is a very personal thing.





	Fright Night Double Feature

Sometimes, having a mask comes in handy.  It can be invaluable in preserving his dignity, for example.  Or, in this case, someone else’s.  

 

“Hi,” Wheeljack says evenly, grateful that the faceplate hides his grin.

 

“Hi,” Starscream replies, craning his neck to look up from where he’s wedged between Wheeljack’s frame and the back of the sofa. He stretches one arm over his head as best he can in that position, trying hard to look casually seductive, and not as though he just let out a squeak and dove behind Wheeljack because of a horror movie.  A  _human_ horror movie, at that.

 

Which is a bit of a futile effort, given that it happened two seconds ago and they were both there, but Wheeljack valiantly bites back the laughter.

 

“What was it?” he asks kindly.  This movie isn’t particularly gruesome; it’s not even supposed to be  _scary,_ exactly, according to the recommendation from Sideswipe.  It’s one of the Alfred Hitchcock human’s tamer offerings:   _Vertigo,_ about a human who meets a doppelgänger of his dead lover.  It’s nice and eerie for the Festival of Mortilus, sure, but not exactly scream-and-hide terrifying.

 

“What was what?”  Now Starscream’s other hand is trailing sensuously over his cockpit, but Wheeljack refuses to be distracted by such an obvious ploy.

 

“Star.”

 

Starscream turns on his side with a huff, and pulls a cushion over his head.  From beneath it, muffled, come the words, “The roof.”

 

The mask is equally good at hiding Wheeljack’s frown of puzzlement.  The main character is standing on a roof at the moment, but there’s nothing scary up there.  He’s just recoiling because the eponymous vertigo is kicking in, making the world seem to sway and ripple in front of the camera, as if the human is about to fall… oh.  “Is this a flier thing?”

 

The cushion nods miserably.

 

“Well, we don’t need to finish it.”  Wheeljack stops the vid, filing it away for himself to watch later.   “How about some horror that just takes place on the ground?”

 

“You don’t have to make fun of me,” the cushion reprimands him.

 

“Hey.”  Wheeljack tugs the cushion gently, and it eventually comes free, revealing two red optics watching him balefully.  “I’m not making fun.  Everyone’s got a thing - ’specially after the war.”

 

“Reaaaaally?”  Starscream’s tone is trying for dry, but comes across a little bit too raw for that.  “If that’s true, what’s yours?”

 

“Helplessness.”

 

Starscream sits up, listening. Wheeljack is slumped forward, his elbows on his knees, not looking at him.

 

“When you’re watching a vid, and – and someone’s getting hurt, or killed, and their friend is watching but they’re tied up.  Or they’re listening to it happen but they can’t get in the room.  If there’s a scene like that, sometimes I need to stop watching.  I used to have nightmares like that.”  There’s no  _used to_ about it.

 

Wheeljack feels tapered, clever fingertips trace one of his audial fins.  “Scaredy cat,” Starscream murmurs, a smile in his voice.

 

“Yeah,  _I’m_ definitely the scaredy cat,” Wheeljack answers, rolling his optics.  “What do you say?  Want to switch?  I’ve got ghost stories, murder mysteries, a vid about a guy who kills people with something called a Texas chainsaw…”

 

Starscream scoots closer and lays his head on Wheeljack’s shoulder.  “As long as everything happens on the ground and no one gets tied up.”

 

“You got it.  Those are the best rules for movies.”

 

“And the worst rules for fragging.”

 

“Oh, for spark’s sake, shut up and hand me the popcorn.”


End file.
